


Urns of Silver

by SecondStarfall (beantiger)



Series: The Second Starfall Stories [12]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Cemetery, Death, Fantasy, Female Friendship, Flash Fic, Gen, Guards, Kings & Queens, LGBTQ Female Character, Medieval, Microfic, Original Character(s), Originally Posted Elsewhere, Post-War, Royalty, Soldiers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 09:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22190347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beantiger/pseuds/SecondStarfall
Summary: "How long have you been at this job, madam?" asked the queen."Wouldn't call it a job. These are the bones of those whose families did not come to claim them.""Or who could not be claimed?""Yes." The gravedigger still hadn't met her eye. "Soldiers."***A queen, quite suddenly, recruits a new servant in a graveyard—who may be more than she seems.
Series: The Second Starfall Stories [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582975
Kudos: 10





	Urns of Silver

**Author's Note:**

> This is a version of the original Twitterfic, same title, posted over at my now-deactivated personal account in December 2019. Unlike most of the other stories in this series, this one has been given more substantial edits for consistency and readability on AO3. ❤️ 
> 
> **SUGGESTED RE-READING:** I feel like this stands alone, but you can meet Marlesse in ["The Botanist's Most Important Failure"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21990349) and Alexandrine in ["A Good Queen is Good to Have"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22005889) \+ ["A True History of True Sight."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22097629)
> 
> ✨ [[see the full SecStar timeline](https://secondstarfall.com/index.php/Official_Timeline) | [check out the SecStar wiki](https://secondstarfall.com/)] ✨

Watching the gravedigger work, the queen felt in her gut that something was amiss. As if—

As if the gravedigger should not have been there.

"Do you know that woman?" she asked, generally, of her entourage. They had detoured from the new tomb of the fallen soldier, she and her best staff and a few visiting ladies whose names she'd already forgotten.

One of these dignified folk began, "Why would we know..." 

"Because she wears the medal of a soldier, because she bears the scars of my father's ugly wars—see her cheek?—and yet she is here digging graves. That's why, you terrible fool."

Whoever had spoken mumbled obscenities, then fell silent. 

As always, however, the queen's curiosity held more than mere righteous indignation. The gravedigging woman stood over six feet tall—probably halfway to seven—and yet, despite the clear might in her shoulders and arms, moved with tenderness. _This,_ thought the queen, _is someone who is good at war and was sad to discover it._

She left her entourage at the tomb and approached the gravedigger, who did not turn around. The digger lay an urn in a fresh grave and then interred it. A stack of twenty or so more urns quietly waited in a nearby wheelbarrow.

"How long have you been at this job, madame?" asked the queen.

"Hm. I wouldn't call it a job. These are the bones of those without families to claim them." 

"Or who could not be claimed?"

"Yes." The gravedigger still hadn't met her eye. "Soldiers."

"And you believe they all deserve urns of such a caliber." For each one, glistening preternaturally even on that overcast day, featured the crest of the kingdom etched in silver. 

"Yes. I often inherit more than I need or even want, and so I pay for burials."

No arrogance, or even pride, laced this digger's voice.

"You must be rich beyond belief if, even after paying your taxes to the crown, you have enough to commission silversmiths in bulk." 

The gravedigger whirled around. Horror bloomed on her face. She stood at attention immediately, stiff and wide-eyed.

"What is your name?" asked the queen.

"Ah—Your Majesty, have mercy, please—"

"Strange name." 

"Ah. I mean—Marlesse. De la Mer."

"I am Alexandrine d'Ampère, queen of this very fine land."

The queen held out her hand. After an irritatingly long—but completely understandable—moment of hesitation, the digger Marlesse took it. And in a lightning flash of an instant, Queen Alexandrine examined this woman in the way only she could: the false true sight.

"If you were given the chance to serve the royal guard, would you?" asked the queen.

"Yes—well—yes, anything for the crown, Your Majesty—"

"Don't lie to me, darling."

"I—I would serve, but—perhaps—not in a front-line capacity—"

"A desk job, then." 

"I don't have the wits for that, Your Majesty, but maybe—as a trainer, or—"

"I'll keep that in mind."

The queen returned to her entourage and pulled aside her head guard.

"It was you that spoke out earlier, wasn't it, Chief? Go help that woman finish her digging." 

To see the head guard visibly balk at such a command was rather cute.

"Also," added the queen, "you're fired. I dislike you and always have. Go back to the pits from which my father recruited you, Chief."

"You would sack me, after years of—where would you find—" 

"I've found your replacement. Go help her bury her friends, you utter peacock."

Silver glinted off his gilded pauldrons as he slunk away. Alexandrine imagined melting down his armor for more urns—or, better, for little trinkets. 

Maybe they could do with fewer urns.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment or a kudos or whatever the heck if this tickled your fancy. There shall be more! ❤️ Also, please let me know what other characters, relationships, or places you'd like to hear about. I have lots of ideas, but I'd enjoy writing a few stories for y'all as well.
> 
> ✨ [[see the full SecStar timeline](https://secondstarfall.com/index.php/Official_Timeline) | [check out the SecStar wiki](https://secondstarfall.com/)] ✨
> 
>  **AUTHOR'S COMMENTARY:** Our queen gets a name. Her father's name was Alexandre, incidentally.
> 
> The story about how Mar went from soldier to gravedigger to chief guard at an exceedingly young age is a fascinating one. This is one half of it: Alexandrine cleared out almost all of her father's staff to install her own, and they were all kids, basically. Eighteen to thirty years old. Why she did this is something I'll explore more deeply later, but we touch on it a bit in "Five Reflections on the Queen."
> 
> The other half of Mar's story—soldier to gravedigger—is a bit sadder. We'll get around to it, in a tale I'll call something like "The Diamond Hero" or "The Diamond Scar." I will say she lied about her age to get into the military, and no one was going to turn away a 6'7" kid built like a tank and eager to please.


End file.
